Disaster Kits on a College Budget

It’s hard to study for midterms when 80 mph wind gusts threaten to burn down your overpriced apartment, and the earthquake that will eventually take down Evans Hall lurks behind you. From power outages to earthquakes and fires, the city and campus of Berkeley face a variety of acute, devastating threats. Oftentimes as individuals we can’t prevent these events from happening, but we can prepare for and predict them.

A disaster kit is more than peace of mind, it truly can be a matter of life and death for you and the people around you. In order to protect one’s self from these events, we have to take some measures into our own hands, and take responsibility for our safety and security. After the fires of November 2018, and the power outages of last fall, I set out to build a high value, versatile disaster kit that I could store in my closet and carry on my back. Here’s how I did it, and how you can too.

The first thing I considered was the type of disasters I was worried about. The big two in Berkeley are fires and earthquakes, but there are other disasters that people don’t think about. Hazardous materials release, a sustained large area blackout, and terrorist attacks are all things that would absolutely qualify as disasters, but are often left out of the conversation.

While we might consider public health emergencies, such as the United States’ obesity epidemic, they’re not the acute, imminent threats that we are preparing for. I wanted to be able to respond to almost anything that required me to leave my apartment for an indefinite period of time, be highly mobile in a variety of situations and weather conditions, and keep myself and the people I care about safe. I also didn’t want to have to rely on the response of outside agencies, as it may be delayed or insufficient to the disaster.  I decided to focus on a modular system to keep my kit versatile, cheap, and compact. I’m not going to focus on specific products, because your needs and budget will be different, but rather a set of goals every kit should accomplish. This system of modules provides the framework by which to build your kit, but it’s important to consider how it works as a unit, what you may need that you haven't thought about, and what investment you’re willing to make. More important than any physical item is the plan you make to use them. Knowing where you’ll go, who you’ll contact, and what you’ll do when you get there is crucial in tampering the chaos and panic inherent to disaster scenarios. 

Outbreaks and pandemics are inherently different from physical disasters, because you are much more likely to be confined to an area than be forced to leave it. A large scale quarantine in Berkeley is at this point imminent. Have 2 weeks of food and disposables on hand, check in on people you know who are immuno-compromised, and self quarantine. Follow CDC guidelines, stay home work if you feel sick, see a doctor if you feel sick and have the means to, and, lastly - wash your hands. 

Module 1: Getting Out

This module is defined by your ability to get out of the affected area of a disaster quickly with your kit and the people you’re leaving with. The most obvious item in this module is the bag you’re going to put everything in, most likely a backpack. My recommendation is choosing something in the 35-40 liter range, with hip straps and water-resistant finishing. Perhaps the most important characteristic of a bag is that it’s inconspicuous, that it doesn’t look overly tactical or blatantly like a disaster kit. If your bag sticks out too much, it could become a target for people to steal. 

Other things I put in my kit were a change of clothes and a pair of walking shoes, as an earthquake or fire could hit while you’re in the shower or asleep and getting out a minute or two earlier is crucial. Another thing I added was a pair of leather gloves, to help sift through rubble if a building collapses, and a fine dust mask for the same reason. This is also a great place to have mobility aids.

Module 2: Mitigating Environmental Threats

This module should make up the bulk of your kit, as its goal is arguably the hardest and most important: Replicating the safety of your living situation from rain, cold, air pollution, and security issues. If you happen to have camping gear, this is an excellent use for it. Personally I have a tarp for the wind and rain, and a down quilt and sleeping pad for warmth. I also carry about 50 ft or rope, a ground cloth, and a spare quilt so that I could squeeze an extra person under the tarp just in case. If you don’t have camping gear and aren’t willing to invest, mylar blankets, cheap tarps, and a foam core pad will keep you warm and dry, but barely.  A can of pepper spray and a smoke mask can also be a valuable addition to this module. 

Module 3: Food, Water, First Aid

While it’s certainly true that any major disaster in the bay would initiate a huge response, it’s hard to rely on that from governments and NGOs after lackluster responses in Puerto Rico and Paradise, CA. And especially for accessing clean water and first aid, you or the people around you may need it before emergency services can arrive. I carry a universal water key, which fits in the palm of my hand and weighs less than an iphone. As long as the water pressure remains, I can access an effectively unlimited amount of clean water through the municipal system. I highly encourage everyone having one of these, they’re $5 and one of the most useful tools you can have. If water pressure does fail, a chemical and biological water filter, like a sawyer filter, is a must. I also recommend some sort of basic first aid capabilities, especially for life threatening injuries, specifically cuts, burns, and broken bones. A CAT splint and Israeli pressure bandages would be a significant investment in your kit, but would pay off tenfold if you ever needed to use them to handle broken bones or life-threatening bleeding, and require no advanced skills to use. If you can’t afford these, you can use a magazine or newspaper and some gauze to jury-rig a splint. Unless you have advanced medical training, I can’t recommend using a makeshift tourniquet unless the situation is life threatening and you’re willing to lose a limb. A good metal pot, lid, and cooking stove with a waterproof lighter will also give you the capacity to boil water and cook food, although a simpler option might just be to stuff 20 cliff bars in your bag. While a waterproof form of combustion is essential in every kit, lighting a camp fire in high fire conditions is reckless at best. I would recommend having a fire only in life or death situations.

Module 4: Accessing Emergency Services and Communicating With Others

Once you’ve gotten yourself and the people around you out of danger, addressed pressing first aid and environmental concerns, it’s important that you start to think about the long term. How are you going to contact your family, if you have medication or accessibility needs, how will you access those, as well as be treated and protected from less immediate threats? In all likelihood if a huge fire or earthquake swept through Berkeley, a camp would be set up to handle the evacuees. If an extended power outage or something else happened that required you to leave, you would also probably be moving towards some other location. For this reason, one of the most crucial things you can have is a couple full portable chargers in a waterproof container. Cell phones are an indispensable tool for communication, navigation, and a host of other things. Being able to tell your family that you’re safe and alive is a crucial part of any disaster kit. However, phones can also be lost, stolen, or destroyed, and so it’s also wise to carry a map of the area and a crank radio so that you can at least hear emergency broadcasts. A paper copy of emergency contacts with phone numbers is also crucial, as a backup in case you can’t access your contacts. Once you get to wherever you’re going, staying healthy and safe is priority #1. If you have a medication that you don’t have on you or some other medical problem, the camp will most likely be able to address it. One thing disaster camps are known for is their atrocious hygiene standards, as we’ve seen in the norovrius outbreak at the FEMA camp in Paradise, CA and the cholera outbreak in the Haiti earthquake camps. As such, basic sanitation supplies like antimicrobial soap, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper are indispensable. 

Module 5:  Other Things You Know You Need

I’m an able-bodied man with no major chronic health issues, and obviously that’s not representative of everyone. There’s things I haven’t included in my kit because they aren’t strictly relevant to me, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t include them. Some things that immediately pop out to me are extra pads/tampons and medications that can be easily stored. I recommend that in order to catch the small, crucial items that you don’t necessarily think about, you take an inventory of the things you use over the course of a week and decide what’s essential and what you could live without. Remember, the more you carry the less mobile you’ll be.